Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed the club will reject FIFA’s invitation for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the USA.
FIFA announced a restructuring of the FIFA Club World Cup to include more teams and matches going forward. The new format is set to feature 32 teams as opposed to the previous format which had seven champions from different continents taking part.
The 32-team FIFA Club World Cup format is the brainchild of FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Infantino suggested the new format in 2016 and wanted the tournament to kick off three years later in 2019 but suffered setbacks.
In 2017, a 24-team new format was suggested to be played every four years but could not be realized.
After previous setbacks, FIFA finally settled for a new schedule for the tournament (a 32-team format). On June 23, 2023, the world football’s governing body confirmed the tournament will be held in the United States of America in June 2024 before the 2026 FIFA World Cup which will also be hosted in the Americas.
The announcement was met with strong opposition from European domestic associations due to an already congested football calendar. The Premier League and LaLiga threatened to boycott the competition, blasting FIFA for going after monetary gains while paying less attention to players’ welfare.
Real Madrid set to reject 2025 FIFA Club World Cup invitation
Real Madrid are set to reject the invitation for the 2024 FIFA Club World Cup. Real Madrid manager Carlo confirmed this in a recent interview.
According to the Italian football veteran, FIFA’s prize money for the participating teams in the tournament is not worth it.
“FIFA forgets that the clubs and players will not participate in that tournament,’ Ancelotti said in an interview with Il Giornale, as quoted by Relevo.
‘A single Real Madrid match is worth €20million (£17m) and they want to give us that money for the entire competition. Negative.
‘Real Madrid, like other clubs, we will decline the invitation.’
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is scheduled to be held from June 15 to July 13, 2025.
